First up, Horn talked about the early shooting that has taken place, and basically says it's just setting the stage for when the big show begins in a few weeks. So don't bother looking for any cool set photos....
Horn: "We did some second unit work in Abu Dhabi and other places, because we have all these locations we have to film and we have to give it that Star-Warsian look. So we needed to go to different places that give us the right look and feel and we did have second unit work shooting already but we haven't commenced the main part of principle photography yet."
That makes sense because casting has yet to be finished, despite a few names having emerged as likely stars.
Horn: "We're not prepared to announce it yet but we will be very shortly announcing what we're doing.
Nobody will be surprised to learn that Disney is throwing every dollar they can at Abrams' vision of Star Wars, and Horn says the budget could hit the $200M mark. Kind of surprising after the expensive flops they've had of late....
Horn: "We actually don't even have the completed budget yet. But it will be in that range. These large, tentpole kinds of movies, on the expensive side, are in the neighborhood of $175-200 million, that kind of a number — some are more, some are less. We need to give the audience, essentially, a full meal in return for their affection and devotion and love for these properties."
And even though George Lucas gets razzed by fans for what he did with the Star Wars prequels, Disney says he's still involved with the new trilogy as a consultant...
Horn: "We actually don't even have the completed budget yet. But it will be in that range. These large, tentpole kinds of movies, on the expensive side, are in the neighborhood of $175-200 million, that kind of a number — some are more, some are less. We need to give the audience, essentially, a full meal in return for their affection and devotion and love for these properties."
Right. Sounds like Lucas doesn't actually have a whole lot of input. Star Wars: Episode VII arrives on December 18th 2015, which is an unusual time of year for the franchise historically. Horn was asked if that would be the expected season for future Star Wars movies, or if they could revert back to the early summer as usual...
Horn: "No, we're not sure yet, we may revert. The Star Wars dates have been May, and we may revert to that at some point, it depends on the readiness of the screenplays or where we are, but this first one will be December 18th of 2015, so we'll start with that and we'll see.
Horn then spoke about Marvel's Captain America 3 and the May 16th 2016 showdown with Batman vs. Superman. With Captain America: The Winter Soldier quickly becoming one of the studio's biggest hits, Warner Bros. is expected to back down and move their film to another date. But in a conversation with Variety's Brent Lang, Horn said that Marvel has some concerns of their own...
"We'll see. We're struggling with it" Alan Horn on #CaptainAmerica3 debuting against #BatmanvsSuperman
— Brent Lang (@BrentALang) April 22, 2014
It simply doesn't make sense to keep both films on that date as they'll chew up one another's audience. But maybe it won't be Zack Snyder and Warner Bros. who turn tail and run?
